Research Seminar: Which Economic Tasks are Performed with AI? Evidence from Millions of Claude Conversations

The Growth Lab’s Research Seminar series is a weekly seminar that brings together researchers from across the academic spectrum who share an interest in growth and development.

This is an online only event. Please register in advance.

Speaker: Kunal Handa, Research Scientist at Anthropic

Paper Abstract: Despite widespread speculation about artificial intelligence’s impact on the future of work, we lack systematic empirical evidence about how these systems are actually being used for different tasks. Here, we present a novel framework for measuring AI usage patterns across the economy. We leverage a recent privacy-preserving system to analyze over four million this http URL conversations through the lens of tasks and occupations in the U.S. Department of Labor’s O*NET Database. Our analysis reveals that AI usage primarily concentrates in software development and writing tasks, which together account for nearly half of all total usage. However, usage of AI extends more broadly across the economy, with approximately 36% of occupations using AI for at least a quarter of their associated tasks.

Speaker Bio: Kunal Handa is a Research Scientist at Anthropic where he focuses on understanding and improving the societal impact of AI systems. His research explores the fundamentals of learning in both humans and machines, particularly how to build collaborative AI tools grounded in human communication principles. Previously, Kunal was a graduate student at the University of Oxford and an undergraduate student at Brown University studying linguistics and computer science.

Growth Lab Development Talk – Green Steel in Namibia: Progress Report Summary

The Growth Lab’s “Development Talks” is a series of conversations with policymakers and academics working on economic growth and development in countries, regions, states and cities in the US and around the world. The seminar provides a platform for practitioners and researchers to discuss both economic growth and development and analytical work centered on policy.

Speaker: James Mnyupe, Presidential Economic Advisor and Hydrogen Commissioner, Government of The Republic of Namibia

Moderator: Ketan Ahuja, Growth Lab Research Fellow

About the Talk: James Mnyupe will speak about his work in Namibia setting up an industrial ecosystem around green hydrogen production, and related industries. He will discuss a pilot project involving direct reduced iron production using green hydrogen that is currently being commissioned. The speaker invites attendees to watch this video before the event.

Whether attending in person or online, please register in advance. Room attendance is limited to the Harvard community. Buffet lunch will be served. Seating availability is based on a first-come, first-served basis. The Zoom webinar is open to the public.

About the Speaker: Mr. Mnyupe is a multidisciplinary financial professional with a background in accounting, asset management and wealth management. A graduate of UNAM and Rhodes University, Mr. Mnyupe plied his trade in the private sector for over a decade auditing a wide variety of companies in all three sectors of the Namibian economy and undertook extensive research on listed securities on the local stock exchange. He led one of Namibia’s prominent asset management firms for five years, was the Founding Chair of the Namibia Savings and Investment Association, was appointed to the High-Level Panel on the Namibian Economy in 2019 by President Hage Geingob and holds the CA, CFA and CFP designations. Mr Mnyupe possesses a holistic appreciation for how the capital and institutional savings markets intertwine to drive Namibia’s economic and developmental agenda. His involvement in various industry and national bodies have offered him a unique perspective from which to contribute to various dialogues and initiatives that look to deploy said assets across various opportunity sets, locally and regionally more effectively.

Info Session: An Exploration of Rural American Economies Study Group

All students are welcome to join us for an informational session about the opportunity to participate in a 6-week Growth Lab study Group on Rural Economies. The info session will include an introductory presentation and Q&A by the Growth Lab and virtual participation by the Wyoming Business Council and/or New Mexico Economic Development Department.

RSVP is required.  Lunch will be provided.

Optional preparation for info session: “What everyone should know about rural America ahead of the 2024 election” and “Rural America’s economies are often left out by a design flaw in federal funding.”

About the study group:
This study group will meet weekly over six weeks (Mondays 4-5:30PM) to introduce and discuss issues facing rural economies across the United States and relevant national, state, and local strategies. The study group will bring in learnings and guests from the Growth Lab’s multi-year research project in Wyoming and new research in New Mexico, as well as material from the Brookings Institution’s Reimagining Rural Policy program.

Application is required. Apply by Friday, March 13.

For more information about the six sessions, visit growthlab.hks.harvard.edu/study-groups.

2025 Summer Internship Informational Lunch

Each year, the Growth Lab offers students exciting opportunities to work with its research teams on applied projects around the world, often embedded with local governments and project counterparts. Opportunities for summer 2025 include work on the Growth Lab’s Bolivia, Nigeria, New Mexico, Baltimore, Azerbaijan, Morocco and Meghalaya projects.

We are hosting a pizza lunch on Tuesday, February 4th at 12 pm to provide more information and answer any questions about this year’s internship opportunities. Please register.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Note: The Growth Lab Summer Internship is separate from CID’s Global Internship Program.

Get to Know the Growth Lab: Research and Student Engagement Showcase

Learn more about the Growth Lab’s mission and approach, our academic research and policy engagements, and student opportunities. You’ll hear directly from the Growth Lab’s senior leadership, research fellows, and staff.

RSVP is required. Refreshments will be served. 

Research Seminar: Unveiling the Latent Structures within the Global Science System

The Growth Lab’s Research Seminar series is a weekly seminar that brings together researchers from across the academic spectrum who share an interest in growth and development.

Speaker: Lili Miao, Ph.D. candidate at Indiana University, School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering

Location: W434-B / Zoom Whether attending in person or online please register in advance.

Speaker Bio: Lili Miao is a Ph.D. candidate at Indiana University, School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering. Her research focuses on applying computational methods to understand the interactions among science, innovation, and society. Besides publishing in renowned venues, her research has served as an integral basis for formulating a pilot program—A National Network for Critical Technology Assessment—funded by the NSF and dedicated to informing U.S. national technology policy. She is a recipient of several awards including the Humane Studies Fellowship from the Institute for Humane Studies and the Best Poster Award at the 1st International Conference on the Science of Science & Innovation.

Paper Abstract: Science is crucial for innovation and economic prosperity. While numerous studies have investigated the factors influencing national scientific development, it remains unclear whether universal structures and trajectories exist. Meanwhile, science is increasingly a global activity, characterized by the exchange of knowledge, resources, and people across national borders. Exchanges, however, can often be asymmetrical, posing risks and costs to global science. Using bibliometric data, this talk will delve into the underlying structures of national scientific development and examine the impact of global funding and collaboration on national scientific development. The talk will discuss the vicious cycles that hinder the scientific development of developing countries, the benefits and risks of relying on foreign scientific funding, and the threats to achieving an equitable global science system. It will conclude with a review of relevant global science policies and recommendations for leveraging large-scale data to formulate and evaluate national and international science policies.

Research Seminar: Modelling Technological Change in the Energy Transition

The Growth Lab’s Research Seminar series is a weekly seminar that brings together researchers from across the academic spectrum who share an interest in growth and development.

Speaker: Bessie Noll, Doctoral Researcher at ETH Zürich

In this seminar, Bessie  will walk through the motivation, methods, and results of  her research as well expand on the question of why certain technologies learn faster than others using innovation and technology complexity theory as explanatory factors. The presentation will conclude with thoughts on how this work may impact or inform larger climate models. 

Location: HYBRID W-434 A.B. HKS (Harvard Community) / Zoom

Whether attending in person or virtually, please register in advance.

About the Speaker: Bessie Noll is a Postdoctoral researcher with the Energy and Technology Policy Group (EPG) at ETH Zürich. In September 2023, she successfully defended her PhD, presenting a dissertation that aims to enhance our comprehension of how public policy can accelerate transformative change in the road transport sector towards low-carbon technologies. In particular, the thesis argues that policymakers need up-to-date, quantitative, approaches to evaluate and project dynamic technology competition and to assess prospective policy impacts on the transition.

Her current research explores two distinct areas. The first focuses on improving the representation of technological innovation in Integrated Assessment Models, looking specifically at technology complexity to understand why some technologies learn faster than others. The second focuses on the low-carbon transport transition in Africa, assessing the role of battery electric versus synthetic fuel vehicles as options for decarbonizing passenger transport. 

Paper: The effects of local interventions on global technological change through spillovers: A modeling framework and application to the road- freight sector

Abstract

To address global sustainability challenges, (public) policy interventions are needed to induce or accelerate technological change. While most policy interventions occur on the local level, their innovation effects can spill over to other jurisdictions, potentially having global impact. These spillovers can increase or reduce the incentive for interventions. Lacking to date are computational models that capture these spillover dynamics. In this study, we devise a conceptual and methodological approach to quantify ex ante the effects of local demand-side interventions on global competition between incumbent and novel technologies. We apply these frameworks to the case of commercial road-freight, assessing global spillover effects due to different demand-pull interventions and shocks. 

The presentation will walk through the motivation, methods, and results of this study, and as well expand on the question of why certain technologies learn faster than others using innovation and technology complexity theory as explanatory factors. The presentation will conclude with thoughts on how this work may impact or inform larger climate models. 

2024 Summer Internship Informational Lunch

Each year, the Growth Lab offers students exciting opportunities to work with its research teams on applied projects around the world, often embedded with local governments and project counterparts. Opportunities for summer 2024 include work on the Growth Lab’s Azerbaijan, Morocco, Hermosillo, and Wyoming projects. 

We are hosting a pizza lunch on Wednesday, January 31st at 12 pm to provide more information and answer any questions about this year’s internship opportunities. We look forward to seeing you there! 

Note: The Growth Lab Summer Internship is separate from CID’s Global Internship Program.

Compass

Do you seek to enrich your big-picture perspective on the most critical policy and leadership topics for our time? Join us for a Kennedy School tradition of Compass, where Jason Furman, Ricardo Hausmann, Deb Hughes Hallett and Todd Rogers will share 3 big ideas that transformed their fields and discuss their implications for the world!

Ricardo Hausmann will discuss “How not to talk to the Global South about decarbonization.”

This TED-talk-style event is an opportunity for you to engage with the world-class expertise of our HKS faculty. A perfect way to deep-dive into the topics you are passionate about, inquire our faculty and join the Compasslearning community that meets once a semester.

When: Monday, November 20 at 6 – 7:30 pm

Location: JFK Forum

RSVP: http://bit.ly/RegCompass 

Get to Know the Growth Lab: Research and Student Engagement Showcase

Learn more about the Growth Lab’s mission and approach, our academic research and policy engagements, and student opportunities. You’ll hear directly from the Growth Lab’s senior leadership, fellows, and staff.

Speakers include:
Ricardo Hausmann – Director, Growth Lab; Rafik Hariri Professor of the Practice of International Political Economy, HKS

RSVP is required. Contact Chuck McKenney with any questions.

Refreshments will be served.